Dolma are a wide array of stuffed vegetables commonly found in Middle Eastern cuisine, but today we’re making the popular 3 Sisters Dolma dish, which consists of eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers stuffed with a seasoned ground beef filling and served in an aromatic tomato sauce. Prepared outside over an open flame, this is the perfect recipe for your next big cookout!
Yield: 20-30 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty Level: Moderate
You’ll Need:
For the 3 Sisters Dolma:
- 3 tbsp salt
- 1 lemon, halved
- 9 small eggplants
- 10 large tomatoes
- 4 yellow bell peppers
- ground beef filling
- tomato sauce
- 1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 14 eggs
For the ground beef filling:
- 8 lbs beef, minced
- 1⅔ cups chopped parsley
- ½ cup sea salt
- ⅓ cup cumin seed
- 2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
For the tomato sauce:
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 5 onions, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- flesh from 10 large tomatoes
- 36 oz crushed tomatoes
- salt, pepper, rosemary & thyme to taste
Here’s How:
1. Prepare a fire pit and start the fire. Heat some water in a large Dutch oven over the fire pit and add the salt and lemon halves to the pot. Remove the stems from the eggplants, make a deep slit down the center of each one, and add them to the Dutch oven. Cover the Dutch oven with a lid and cook for 20 minutes.
2. For the ground beef filling, combine the minced beef, chopped parsley, sea salt, cumin seed, and whole black peppercorns.
3. Cut the tops off of the tomatoes, hollow out the insides, and set the flesh aside for later. Fill the tomatoes with the ground beef filling and place the tomato lids upside-down on top of the tomatoes.
4. Repeat the process for the yellow bell peppers.
5. Remove the cooked eggplants from the Dutch oven and spoon the ground beef filling into the slits.
6. For the tomato sauce, heat some olive oil in a large 20-inch paella pan over the fire pit. Sweat the onions and garlic and add the tomato flesh that you set aside earlier. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, season with salt, pepper, rosemary, and thyme, and let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes.
7. Remove the paella pan from the heat and arrange the stuffed eggplants, tomatoes, and bell peppers in 3 circles in the pan.
8. Crack an egg into each inverted tomato and bell pepper lid and sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the stuffed eggplants.
9. Take a second 20-inch paella pan, flip it upside-down, place it on top of the paella pan with the 3 sisters dolma, and let cook for another 20 minutes.
This healthy, veggie-packed, mouthwatering dish will become your new go-to BBQ recipe and is guaranteed to impress your party guests!